Korea Market Focus at the London Book Fair 2014

Posted on January 29, 2014

(Source: The British Council)

The Korea Market Focus will be featuring the contemporary Korean literature at the London Book Fair 2014 which will be held on 8 – 10 April 2014. Both the British Council and The Literature Translation Institute of Korea (LTI Korea) has announced the Korea Market Focus cultural programme which gives the UK visitors and publishers the opportunity to know more about the Korean literature. Also, the Korean writers and publishers will get to know about the UK publishing and literature market. It is an exchange of knowledge and capabilities in understanding the opportunities and challenges within these sectors, on both local and global concepts, among writers and publishers from the UK and Korea.

The cultural programme, curated by the British Council, involves ten writers from Korea who explores various themes such as the role of family, literary imagination, the ongoing changes in Korean society, digital innovation in literature, and Korean literary traditions. The participating writers are:

Hwang Sok-yong: Vietnam War veteran, political dissident, and novelist who wrote well-known writings like The Guest and The Ancient Garden

Yi Mun-yol: Receive numerous awards for his novels and short stories including Our Twisted Hero

Shin Kyung-sook: With her novel, Please Look After Mother, she is the first Korean woman to win the Man Asian Literary Prize in 2011

Kim Hyesoon: Her poetries, such as Mommy Must Be a Fountain of Feathers and All the Garbage in The World, Unite, consists of strong feminine expression that are based on feminine experiences

Yoon Tae-Ho: A web-toon author whose works like Moss is adapted into a South Korean thriller, directed by Kang Woo Suk

Hwang Sun-Mi: A children’s writer and author of best-selling modern fable, The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly. It was adapted into an Korean animation film, Leafie, A Hen Into The Wild.

Lee Seung-U: Has written full-length novels, such as Magnolia Park,and short stories for the past three decades

Kim Young-ha: His novels (eg. Quiz Show, The Republic is Calling You, and The Black Flower) are based on thrills and horrors that the Koreans experience in the changing society of modern and globalized culture

Han Kang: Wrote The Vegetarian a collection of three novellas (The Vegetarian, Mongolian Monk, and Fire Tree)

Kim Insuk: Her works, including The Long Road, focuses on the Korean expats

Hwang Sun-Mi, the author of ‘The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly’, as the London Book Fair’s Market Focus ‘Author of the Day’ (Source: London Book Fair 2014)

Hwang Sun-Mi is the London Book Fair’s Market Focus ‘Author of the Day’ on 9 April, Wednesday. She will be at the book fair to participate in seminars, talks, and book signing. You will also get to have photo opportunities with her, too.

Also, public events and readings will be taking place at venues throughout London and the UK. There will be a mini film festival, relating to the Korean literature, at the Korean Cultural Centre UK. Other events will be held at the Free Word, British Library, The Poetry Library, Asia House and London Review Bookshop in London. These events will also be held at the Cambridge Literary Festival, Edinburgh City Libraries, and Wales Literature Exchange at other parts of the UK.

You can find more information about the authors through here where the British Council features one writer weekly (on every Tuesday from now till the London Book Fair 2014) that features their latest biography, Q&A, and their previous works. You will get brief understandings about the ten Korean writers who will be participating at the London Book Fair 2014.

The schedule has not been confirmed yet. It will be updated soon once it is announced on the early February. So, keep on a look out for that. This event is an eye-opener into finding more about the contemporary Korean literature in writing and publishing. An event that you don’t want to miss out in April.